Funding approved for Carteret waterways

Published: Sunday, February 3, 2013 at 08:07 AM.

In December, Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-NC, sent a letter to the president urging that funding to repair North Carolina’s inlets be included in the Sandy Relief package.

The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act provides the resources needed to repair damage to North Carolina’s inlets, waterways, roads and bridges in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The Senate passed similar legislation after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and after Hurricane Irene in 2011 to help affected states recover, the Hagan release said.

Hagan originally helped pass a bipartisan Hurricane Sandy relief bill in the Senate on Dec. 28, but the House failed to act on the legislation before the end of the 112th Congress.

Funding has been approved for several waterways in CarteretCounty as part of a measure to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy.

The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, which includes funding to help impacted North Carolina coastal communities to recover, was approved by the U.S. Senate on Monday, Jan. 28, and was headed to the President for his signature.

“Communities in Northeastern North Carolina still struggling to recover from Hurricane Sandy will now receive the relief they need,” U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said in a statement. “While I would have preferred for Congress to act much sooner by approving the bipartisan Senate-passed bill in December, this action ensures that our coastal communities will be able to repair damaged infrastructure and keep critical waterways open to ferries and commercial fishing boats.”

CarteretCounty didn’t see the damage that Outer Banks communities to the north did, but it did see shoaling of some of its waterways due to the hurricane.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District identified more than $30 million in damage to federally authorized coastal inlet projects

There has been bipartisan support from the North Carolina delegation for the waterway funding.

In December, Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-NC, sent a letter to the president urging that funding to repair North Carolina’s inlets be included in the Sandy Relief package.

The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act provides the resources needed to repair damage to North Carolina’s inlets, waterways, roads and bridges in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The Senate passed similar legislation after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and after Hurricane Irene in 2011 to help affected states recover, the Hagan release said.

Hagan originally helped pass a bipartisan Hurricane Sandy relief bill in the Senate on Dec. 28, but the House failed to act on the legislation before the end of the 112th Congress.